MOL ORDERS FIVE 6,000-TEU SHIPS

MOL ORDERS FIVE 6,000-TEU SHIPS    Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has ordered five, 6,000-TEU containerships to be deployed in its transpacific service.
   The post-Panamax vessels — ships that are too wide to transit the Panama canal —    will replace five 2,800-TEU vessels that the company currently deploys in the trade, MOL said.
   The ships are scheduled to be delivered during the first and third quarters of 2002. They will have a service speed of 25.5 knots and the carrying capacity will include 500 refrigerated container plugs. Three of the vessels will be built by the Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries shipyard and two by Imabari Shipbuilding.
   The ships will be the largest in the fleet of MOL, whose biggest containerships to date are 4,800-TEU vessels deployed in the Asia-Europe trade.
   MOL’s orders for new ships were coordinated with those of APL and Hyundai Merchant Marine, the two other carriers of the New World Alliance.
   Hyundai will take delivery of five 6,400-TEU ships next year and APL will take on long-term charter four 5,500-TEU vessels, also starting from next year.
   MOL said that it expects that the fleet expansion will “provide new opportunities for further strengthening of its other trades including its North-South Service profile.”
   The orders for the 6,000-TEU ships by MOL are the latest in the container shipping industry, which has seen virtually all major liner operators order large vessels of 5,500-TEU or more for delivery in the next few years.